mills dray
mills.dray@proton.me
(they/them)
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Mills Dray is a designer and educator working with play, strategy, facilitation and design research.
Across the UK, Sweden and Australia, they have facilitated programmes of organisational change in collaboration with the NHS, school networks, charities, and local and central governments. They have been an Enabler at the Leadership Centre since 2017, is a visiting lecturer at MfA Embedded Design at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg and currently a Play Sufficiency Consultant at Ludicology.
Alongside this work, Mills has a drawing and diagramming practice that explores processwork, animation and analogue techniques. They have exhibited at Röhsska Museet, Detriti Gallery and Nääs Slöjd & Byggnadsvård, and have given talks and workshops internationally, including at Tokyo Play and Kaospilots in Aarhus.
Mills holds a BA in Design (First Class Honours) from Goldsmiths, University of London (2016) and an MfA in Child Culture Design from HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg (2022).
Selected Works
Education
Child Culture Design Mfa
HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg
2020-2022
Design BA
First Class Honours
Goldsmiths, University of London
2013-2016
JobsEmbedded Design Lecturer
HDK-Valand, Gothenburg University
Jan 2023-present
Enabler
Leadership Centre
2017-present
Strategy and Facilitation
Curiosity Club
2017-2020
Junior Service Designer
Innovation Unit
2017
Social Designer
Year Here
2015
Projects
Art and Everyday Democracy
with Lieselotte van Leeuwun
The RePublic Gallery
Blyth, June 2025
Clairvoyant Machines
with Gloria López Cleries, Samantha Hookway and EmDes Class of 2026
Röhsska Museet
Gothenburg, 2024
Doorstep Realm
Child Culture Design Thesis
Gothenburg, 2022
Mapping Play Objects
Child Culture Design
Gothenburg, 2022
Lekstuga
with Studio Dugnad
Nääs Slöjd & Byggnadsvård
Floda, June 2021
Schools for Change
with Sonia Kneepkens
Northern Saints Academy
2019
Healthy New Towns
with Barking Riverside London
Barking and Dagenham, 2018
GoodFuture
with Innovation Unit Australia
Brisbane, 2017-2018
Thriving Communities
with Derbyshire County Council
Shirebrook, 2017-2018
EventsResidency: Isle of Dreams
Okayama, December 2025
Talk: Conditions for Play
Tokyo Play
Tokyo, November 2025
Workshop: Reimagining the Intertwinement of Research and Education
with Ulises Navarro Aguiar
HDK-Valand Research Cluster Days
Gothenburg, October 2025
Workshop: Practicing Ethics, Deep Investigations
with HDK-Valand Staff for Palestine and Miranda Pennell
HDK-Valand
Gothenburg, September 2025
Workshop: Tensions in Systems Change
with Jo Harrington
Kaospilots
Aarhus, September 2025
Talk: Play and Systems Change
Child Culture Design, HDK-Valand
Gothenburg, May 2025
Forum: Where Does the Critical Go?
with Onkar Kular and Jonas Fridén Kihl
Rohsska Museet and HDK-Valand
Gothenburg, April 2025
Panel: Leakage in Times of Collective Protest
with Sarah Schmidt and GU Students for Palestine
HDK-Valand Research Days
Gothenburg, January 2025
Book Launch: Collective Study in Times of Emergency
with Nick Aikens
Gothenburg, January 2025
Talk: Queer Diagramming
Drawing Articulations: A Radical Drawing Symposium
Leeds, June 2024
Workshop Series: Understanding Play Sufficiency
with Ludicology
Sandwell Council
Remote, May 2024
Workshop: Design and Person-Centred Care
with Samantha Hookway and Ulises Navarro Aguiar
Global Conference on Person-Centred Care: Knowledge(s) and Innovations for Health in Changing Societies
Gothenburg, May 2024
Workshop series (design only): Young Ambassadors
Peabody Community Foundation
2020
Workshop: Design Thinking
with Lajaune Lincoln
Peabody Community Foundation
Jan 2020
Exhibition: Play Happens
with Betty Wallingford
Nääs Slöjd & Byggnadsvård
June 2021
Workshop: Future Vision
with Joseph Harrington and Leadership Centre
Jun 2017 and Jun 2019
Workshop: Place Partnerships
with Leadership Centre Enablers
Sport England
Birmingham, 2019
Workshop: Philanthropists Working in Systems
with Karen Ellis and Matt Gott
Lankelly Chase
2018
Workshop: Ecocycle and Systems Planning
with Joseph Harrington
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government
London, November 2018
Workshop: GoodFuture Hackathon
with Joseph Harrington
Goodstart Early Learning
Perth, 2017
Exhibits
Clarevoyant Machines
Design Stories
Röhsska Museet
Gothenburg, 2024-2026
24 Cel Animation
Unknown Forces
Detriti Gallery
Gothenburg, September 2023
Lekstuga
Där fantasin bor: en utställning om lekstugor & kojor
Nääs Slöjd & Byggnadsvård
Floda, June 2021
Doorstep Realm
The Living End
HDK-Valand
Gothenburg, June 2022
A Space for Play
Known Unknowns, Goldsmiths BA Design
Truman Brewery
London, June 2016
Writing
The Doorstep Realm: Exploring Children’s Democratic
Experimentalism in Public Space
GUPEA, University of Gothenburg
2022
Queer Diagramming
Conference Poster
AIGA Design Conference, 2024
A Squishy Middle
Queer/Trans Magic Magazine: Shapeshifting
Fortuna Press, 2023